In legacy systems for connection of off-board elements to a central processing unit (CPU) package, the connectors for the off-board elements were typically coupled to a circuit board mounted connector. Signals from the off-board elements propagated through electrical traces of the circuit board and/or components mounted to the circuit board prior to reaching the CPU package. The time for the signals to propagate through the electrical traces of the circuit board and/or components mounted to the circuit board became a limiting factor, with the propagation of the signals increasing time needed to process the signals.